New "Impressionable" Craft Products

A totally different clay was that introduced recently by the Flexi-clay Corporation (figure D). Available in thick cylindrical shapes in wonderfully bold colors, it does need to be baked (or boiled or microwaved), but it still retains its flexibility (figure E). The finished piece is dishwasher safe and if you should care to eat from it, it is safe for that as well. It is toxin-free and acid-free! Seems as if it would be perfect for kids who think that everything they touch must first be tasted!

The folks at Poly Tools had polymer clay enthusiasts in mind when they came up with their bead rollers (figure F). Made of see-through plastic, they come in several different styles for making differently shaped beads (figure G) as well as beads in different sizes (figure H). These you have to see...and try...to believe, but as a neophyte who both saw and tried, I can attest to the fact that they really DO what they say they will do!

From a company called Bearing Beads comes some new rubber stamps (figure I). They come in an unmounted sheet of rubber that you then cut with scissors. The designs are all architectural elements that are deeply etched so that you can not only stamp with them, but they can be pressed into polymer clay. After trimming and baking, the pieces can then be assembled into three-dimensional items such as the triptych shown on the show (figure J).

Embossing Arts (out of business) also has some sheet rubber available with rather deeply etched designs, but in this case the sheets feature a variety of all-over designs (figure K). These too can be used not only for backgrounds on stamped paper but are designed with the polymer clay artist in mind. The rubber sheets, which are approximately 5 or 6 inches square, are grouped according to style and sold in "books." Each book has the "pages" or sheets connected with a notebook ring so they are easily removed for use (figure L).

And from Hot Potatoes comes more rubber stamps that are available unmounted in sheet form or mounted on a foam backing (figure M). The font is new and lighter in appearance than the previous block letters in the line. Numerals are also available. Hot Potatoes also has a line of unmounted word stamps.

And last on our table of "impressionable" products were the stamps from Impressions of Faith. In this case it’s two-for-one because each wooden-backed stamp features two related impressions. The one demonstrated had a purse on one side and a pair of women’s gloves on the back. Stamp each item, color it in and cut it out then fit the two cut-outs together often using sticky dots to give the finished item depth (figure N). These are then mounted onto a background backed with a pin backing. Very clever.